


Hydrargyrum

by seadeepy



Series: Schitt's Creek Prompt Fills [4]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Dreams, Episode Tag, Episode: s05e13 The Hike, Established Relationship, Fluff, Flufftober, Flufftober 2020, I truly cannot explain what I have just written, M/M, yes I listed David's rings as a character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:41:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26871598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seadeepy/pseuds/seadeepy
Summary: The night after the hike, David dreams.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Series: Schitt's Creek Prompt Fills [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903411
Comments: 22
Kudos: 55
Collections: Flufftober 2020





	Hydrargyrum

**Author's Note:**

> Flufftober 2020 Prompt: Quicksilver.
> 
> I don't know what to tell you except that I had 1,021 words written of a much more normal, ordinary fic in response to this prompt. And then I chucked the entire thing out and wrote this instead. I hope it still qualifies as fluff, but it's certainly some Very Strange fluff 😂
> 
> Maybe I just [have a thing for color imagery](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26370235/)? You can blame the title on my chemistry background, though — hydrargyrum is the original name for mercury metal, from the words for "water" and "silver," and is also the reason that mercury's chemical symbol is Hg!

The night after the hike, David dreams. It's probably delirium induced by actual physical exercise — he'd snuggled into bed next to Patrick with stiff and aching muscles, but he was so giddy with warmth and happiness he hadn't even complained. Mr. Legs Like Tree Trunks was already snoring next to him, and David had taken a moment to stare at the ceiling and savor this trembling joy, effervescent as the zhampagne they'd shared on their picnic. David's rings are cool and heavy on his fingers — usually he takes them off before bed, but tonight is special. He can't bring himself to take the new ones off. Not just yet.

Perhaps it's not a surprise, then, that in his dream David is wearing his rings. Patrick stands across from him in a black tuxedo, sleek fabric spanning the broad expanse of his shoulders and sharp-edged in all the right ways. He looks gorgeous, so David reaches out to touch him. Patrick captures David's hand between his, smiling in that way he has where his ears lift and his eyes sparkle. Even in his dream, David is dizzy with how much he loves this man.

It is David's right hand that Patrick is holding, and as David watches, the metal of his rings begins to bubble and melt. It spills like liquid through his fingers, trickling down to pool in Patrick's palm. In David's dream, he doesn't feel any alarm at the loss of the jewelry he has worn as a talisman through decades of tumult and heartbreak. It feels more like a transformation, or a gift. David pulls his hand back, and Patrick holds the glistening puddle carefully, reverently. Like he knows the weight of what he is carrying.

In Patrick's cupped hands, the metal begins to glow with a soft light. David holds out his other hand, the left one, and when Patrick's strong fingers pass over David's own, a familiar weight settles onto each of them. David is crying and laughing at once, the same wheezing sobs he gave as he stood on the precipice with a breathtaking view behind him that he wasn't even looking at. Why would he, when all he could ever want was kneeling in front of him?

In between one moment and the next, David wakes. This kind of crystal clarity doesn't come naturally to him, when he spends hours every morning peeling himself from sleep's fuzzy embrace. It's still dark, and he is slightly sweaty underneath Patrick’s heavy comforter. The tears were real, it would appear, drying damp and tacky on David's face. He makes a mental note to apply extra moisturizer and under-eye serum later today.

Lying there next to his boyfriend — his fiancé! — David blinks, trying to keep hold of fragmented images that are already slipping away. He remembers quicksilver, cascading and gleaming. He remembers a melody, somehow familiar and breathlessly surprising at the same time.

David thinks of his wedding book for the first time in years. All the scraps of fantasies he'd pasted between pages, slammed the cover shut over and stored away in a box, the same way he'd guarded his heart. Until Patrick came along and melted him down and forged him into something new. Better. Stronger.

David nestles close to Patrick, pressing his nose to the back of Patrick's neck and inhaling deeply. Patrick shifts and murmurs something, and David mouths a silent "I love you" into the thin fabric of Patrick's pajama shirt. He drifts off to sleep again, smushed up against Patrick's shoulder, and his last thought is that he's never been happier, in his entire life.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments/kudos are loved, treasured & appreciated! <3


End file.
